


cycle number eight

by neverwinter (KingPreussen)



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-24 19:17:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10748097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingPreussen/pseuds/neverwinter
Summary: Trust is a rare commodity.





	cycle number eight

**Author's Note:**

> spoilers for episode 61
> 
> this is my interpretation of lup and taakos conversation at the beginning of the eighth cycle
> 
> when i listened to 61, this part really stuck with me, and i had to write _something_
> 
> forgive the sparse tags and summary, i dont really know what to say that wont spoil too much and i hate it when people post spoilers in the public parts of stories

Lup watched Taako work with worried eyes, sitting inches from him on the soft, damp ground. The mushrooms on this world gave off some hazy, dizzying smell even through the team's protective masks, and it made the edges of everything more than a few feet from her seem fuzzy. Taako was sharp and clear to her now. He looked tired. They were all tired, so it wasn't really a surprise, it just hurt her to see. Taako was never the most bubbly person but he had laughed more before all this, nearly a decade ago. He had smiled more.

"You want me to stay?" she asked, projecting her lack of judgement. Taako slightly swayed toward her but didn't look up, pouring through his spellbook and a transmutation text he took out of the ship's miniscule library. "Taako," her voice was firmer now, with an edge of command, "Look at me."

He glanced over at her, the gas mask-esque black contraption over his nose and mouth accentuating the bluish circles under his eyes. They were still dark and endless but they seemed cold. "No, I'm fine here," he replied quietly.

Lup shifted even closer to him and put a hand on his leg; his eyes followed her movement and then slid back to his book. "I know you don't like being alone, homie. Remember who you're talking to."

"Yeah, but even if something fucked up happens I only have to wait a few months to get you back, so," Taako snapped at her. The way his hands began to tremble kept Lup from snapping as well. Instead, she sighed and rested her chin in one hand, the other rubbing small circles on Taako's knee.

Taako reached up to brush some hair away from his face and finally turned back toward Lup of his own accord. "I think you should go. I want you to stay, of course I do, but you're… integral." He leaned closer to her and she tilted her head at him; his exhausted expression turned urgent, almost desperate. "Get a good look at the Light. Do some checks, Arcana, Nature, whatever you can think of. Then you can tell me everything I need to know to remake it when… if things break bad."

Lup's curiosity turned to confusion. "But the other five are already going, dude. That’s like ten eyes or some shit." Lup couldn't see her brother's mouth but something like humor flickered across his cold eyes for just a moment before his face shut down again.

"I don't trust them," he said, and Lup could see the honesty dripping off his every word. "I trust you."

"Taako, it's been almost a _decade_ ," she stressed.

Taako studied her for a moment, and then returned to reading his texts as if nothing had happened. Lup wanted to say something else and found she didn't have the words. She spent the next few minutes sitting in silence with her brother.


End file.
